


Minefield Revisited

by Paper_Crane_Song



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e03 Minefield, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22491619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paper_Crane_Song/pseuds/Paper_Crane_Song
Summary: Malcolm’s injury catches up with him, and T’Pol looks on. Takes place directly after the episodeMinefieldfinishes.
Relationships: Malcolm Reed & T'Pol
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50
Collections: Reed's Armory Collection





	Minefield Revisited

**Author's Note:**

> I’m becoming more and more aware of the Malcolm and T’Pol moments in _Enterprise_. It would’ve been nice to see more episodes with them interacting together - aside from _Sleeping Dogs_ , most of their scenes seem to involve one or the other either possessed, crazy or dreaming. I hope to explore their relationship in more detail, and so this little story is a prelude of sorts. 
> 
> I would love to know what you think. Thanks for reading.

** Malcolm **

It was like something out of _The Wizard of Oz._ Phlox appeared in the launch bay with his medical kit, which was to be expected, although he hadn’t imagined Trip would come too, let alone the Sub-Commander. And all the while, the Captain, propping him up. He was both gratified and disconcerted by their attention. 

_And you were there, and you were there..._

He supposed that would make him the Tin Man; he certainly looked the part in his bulky EV suit. He even had a metal leg. Sort of. 

“What’s so funny?” Trip said, from where he knelt, beaming at him.

He shook his head, attempted to compose himself. “I just can’t quite believe we’re still alive.” 

He heard the Captain laugh, felt the vibrations as he leant against him.  “Me neither. I won’t be doing that again in a hurry.”

“You sure?” Trip said, “it looked kind of fun from where I was standing.”

He let the talk roll over him, sagging now. He was relieved when Phlox finished examining his leg and declared him stable enough for a stretcher. It wasn’t that the wound was particularly painful; rather, he was starting to feel a little light-headed. Perhaps the Captain shouldn’t have sat him upright after all. 

T’Pol was saying something about Romulans and he shifted slightly, increasingly hot and uncomfortable in the EV suit. He swallowed, then swallowed again. He had no desire to throw up in front of his senior officers.

“Uh, he’s not looking so good,” he heard Trip say as if from deep underwater. 

* * *

** T’Pol **

She directed her attention to Lieutenant Reed. His face had indeed turned an unwholesome colour, and a sheen of sweat covered his forehead. 

“My apologies, Captain,” he said, “I’m not feeling quite well; would you mind lying me back down again?” It was an elegant sentence, considering he was in the process of fainting, and she silently commended him on his use of understatement even as she summoned the Doctor over from where he was using the comm system to request a medical team.

She stepped back as Doctor Phlox scanned him whilst Captain Archer and Commander Tucker remained by his side. 

“He’ll be fine, just a touch of hypoglycaemia. Low blood sugar,” the Doctor added for Commander Tucker’s benefit, who was looking confused. 

“He didn’t eat breakfast,” the Captain said. He seemed disproportionately upset given the banality of the statement. 

“Ah well,” Doctor Phlox said cheerily, assembling a hypospray, “that explains it. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know.” 

The launch bay doors opened then and two medical personnel entered with a stretcher. She assisted the Captain in lifting the Lieutenant onto it, whilst the Doctor and Commander Tucker stabilised his leg. For his part, the Lieutenant was clearly uncomfortable yet sought to remain stoic.

She found herself regretting the injury and the necessary absence it would cause. She felt an affinity with the Lieutenant; of all the crew he was the one most akin to her people. He was restrained, remarkably self-disciplined for a human, and he quite lacked that human propensity for small talk. Furthermore, he had a proper appreciation for facts, and his pragmatism could usually be relied upon in situations when Enterprise was under threat. It was in stark contrast to the Captain, who prioritised his emotions when making decisions, particularly those that involved the crew, and moreover seemed to take a real pride in doing so.

As the medical team left the launch bay with Commander Tucker in tow, she offered the Captain her padd. “A summary of the data we collected concerning the Romulan ship,” she said, by way of explanation. 

Predictably, the Captain waved it away. “I’ll look at it later. I want to check in on Malcolm just as soon as I change out my EV suit.”

A slight set of her brow or purse of her lips must have revealed her displeasure, because the Captain glanced at her again as they made their way towards the door. “Why don’t you talk me through it on the way to sickbay?”

She inclined her head. It was an acceptable compromise. Or as the Captain himself would call it, a ‘win-win’; his usual objective when it came to resolving problems. As demonstrated by the events of today, it was an approach not without its benefits...

Her eyes flicked to the scorch marks on the Captain’s EV suit. 

Or its risks. 

_Finis_


End file.
